October PMI Report Mostly Good News for Food and Beverage Industry

The ISM October purchasing managers’ index (PMI) report is out, and the picture looks good for the food industry and manufacturing in general.

The overall PMI for the month was 58.7%, which is down from September, but still positive. Anything above 50% indicates that the manufacturing economy is expanding, and anything above 43.3% suggests the overall economy is expanding as well.

Here’s what the food, beverage, and tobacco industry reported for the month:

• Growth in new orders

• Growth in production

• Growth in employment

• Slower supplier deliveries

• Lower inventories

• Customer inventories too low

• Increased prices for raw materials

• Growth in new export orders

• Growth in imports

The results from the food industry were exactly aligned with manufacturing as a whole. Based on these numbers, last month was the 14th consecutive month of growth for manufacturing and the 101st consecutive month of growth for the overall economy.